Many PVTs at Ft. Lee, VA (myself included) were promoted to PFC about a week ago. Haha I still gotta get the cash together to go get my chevrons sewn on my uniforms!
Anyway, I wanted to know how I could change my avatar on here to reflect my rank.

Also, on the subject on promotion, anyone want to share promotion stories? For those who are NCOs, how did you feel when you picked up Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, etc? Were you excited or just nervous at the new responsibilities?

usmc0331

01-16-09, 11:06 AM

congrats PFC, keep it up and stay squared away

CJ Haynes

01-16-09, 11:12 AM

congrats PFC, keep it up and stay squared away

Thank ya, Corporal. :usmc:
And thanks to whomever changed my avatar!

jinelson

01-16-09, 11:13 AM

Congratulations Marine you have been pinned.

Jim

CJ Haynes

01-16-09, 11:18 AM

Congratulations Marine you have been pinned.

Jim

Thanks SSGT. I know I said this on your profile, but I thought you were my Drill Instructor SSGT Nelson at first! lol

yellowwing

01-16-09, 11:23 AM

Congratulations Marine! Now that you are experienced in a few tricks of the trade, you really are Perfect For Cleaning! :D

CJ Haynes

01-16-09, 11:32 AM

Congratulations Marine! Now that you are experienced in a few tricks of the trade, you really are Perfect For Cleaning! :D

Haha believe me, Im an expert at cleaning along with my fellow Marines at Ft. Lee. When we were in MAT (marines awaiting training) Platoon, we spent an entire week raking leaves at Ft. Lee ALLLLLLL day every day. We remade the rifleman's prayer to say "This is my rake; there are many like it but this one is mine..."

PaidinBlood

01-16-09, 11:32 AM

congrats, Marine. one pay check for beer, one for the tailor = less than 30 days.. KILL

thedrifter

01-16-09, 11:45 AM

Congratulations Marine!

Ellie

mcvet57103

01-16-09, 11:49 AM

Congrats Marine on PFC. Hoping you see many more in yoou coming years. SF

CJ Haynes

01-16-09, 11:51 AM

Congrats Marine on PFC. Hoping you see many more in yoou coming years. SF

I hope so too. Im still trying to decide wether to stay in the Corps after my four years or get out. There is still alot in the Marine Corps Id like to do. If I reenlist, Id like to go Motor T.
Anywho, no one has any promotion stories they wanna share?

Zulu 36

01-16-09, 12:37 PM

Many PVTs at Ft. Lee, VA (myself included) were promoted to PFC about a week ago. Haha I still gotta get the cash together to go get my chevrons sewn on my uniforms!
Anyway, I wanted to know how I could change my avatar on here to reflect my rank.

Also, on the subject on promotion, anyone want to share promotion stories? For those who are NCOs, how did you feel when you picked up Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, etc? Were you excited or just nervous at the new responsibilities?

Congrats, now you are a highly paid slave. :D

My two favorite promotions were PFC and Corporal as both were meritorious promos (PFC from boot camp and Cpl in Vietnam). Boot camp merit promos meant a little more back then I think because only 10% maximum of the platoon could get them, and there was no other way to make PFC out of boot camp except as a contract (prior service) PFC. Only six guys made merit PFC in my platoon (plus one contract).

No such thing as meritorious PFC for recruiting, never mind L/Cpl. We couldn't make merit L/Cpl in boot camp even if we'd saved the Depot CG's life.

Of course getting a meritorious promotion in a combat zone is always a bit special.

mcvet57103

01-16-09, 12:37 PM

Only story I have is when I was in they used to "Pen" your stripes on you. All the men in your company at your new rank got to punch you in each shoulder once as hard as they wanted to. Getting Cpl was the worst. Then they also got to knee you in the thigh "penning" on your blood stripe. After a day of getting punched, with the last few bringing tears to my eyes, I couldn't raise my arms to eat chow. And hurt for 3 days. But I was told they don't allow that anymore.

Petz

01-16-09, 01:01 PM

I hope so too. Im still trying to decide wether to stay in the Corps after my four years or get out. There is still alot in the Marine Corps Id like to do. If I reenlist, Id like to go Motor T.
Anywho, no one has any promotion stories they wanna share?

first what do you do now other than clean??

second, do you want to drive or turn a wrench???

I'm a 3529 (maint chief)

send me a PM.:iwo:

SgtQuattlebaumJ

01-16-09, 01:02 PM

I would like to send my congratulations to you PFC. The road is long, and if you man up and stay in for a couple, greater things are in store for you. Im a living testimony of that. I been selected...

Petz

01-16-09, 01:06 PM

Only story I have is when I was in they used to "Pen" your stripes on you. All the men in your company at your new rank got to punch you in each shoulder once as hard as they wanted to. Getting Cpl was the worst. Then they also got to knee you in the thigh "penning" on your blood stripe. After a day of getting punched, with the last few bringing tears to my eyes, I couldn't raise my arms to eat chow. And hurt for 3 days. But I was told they don't allow that anymore.

that's hazing now....

when I picked up Staff I had a friendly open handed pat on the fresh rank on my collar and it hit a vein... didn't know it... it started to bleed through my cammies and down to my nametape.... well the CO saw it and made a big deal about it... hell! I told him he did the same thing on the other side!

so I had to get mad and say I had princess skin or something because no-one hit my rank but the CO and the 1stSgt... and I'd testify to that (that quited them down a bit) but it's odd how something like that would make such a big deal.... I'm not crying about it, so why do anything?

I'm obviously looking at this from my own perspective, I'm aware of the troops and how impressionable they CAN be... yadda yadda....

(disclaimer, I might have embellished a little bit... it's up to you to figure out which part)

mcvet57103

01-16-09, 01:17 PM

that's hazing now....

(disclaimer, I might have embellished a little bit... it's up to you to figure out which part)Yeah I was told that in another post. It hurt like hell at the time, but I felt like I was accepted by the guys. We had the attitude back then that a real Marine would take the pain, and not complain. Things have teally changed. I've learned it aint the same corps it was back then. But change is what everyone seems to want nowadays. Was just giving him a story he asked for. Didn't mean to suggest he do it.SF

Sgt Jim

01-16-09, 01:39 PM

Couldn,t raise my arms for about 2-3 dayswhen i picked up Sgt,I think the Other Sgts and SSgts were being easy on me

mcvet57103

01-16-09, 01:43 PM

Couldn,t raise my arms for about 2-3 days when i picked up Sgt,I think the Other Sgts and SSgts were being easy on me:thumbup:Was that way for LCpl, and for Cpl I could barely walk also.

PaidinBlood

01-16-09, 01:49 PM

we used to have a lot of fun with it, but they kind of threw the baby out with the bath water.

nobody ever got "pinned" unwillingly. Hell it would have been a huge insult if somebody DIDN'T bother hitting you. We had a kind of 24-hr rule (give or take some.) Anyway, I can't complain about the "old Corps" :D disappearing; just trust Marines to find a way around everything!

Anway, promotion stories? I missed my promotion to L/Cpl because I was on a working party. I got back to the barracks around 5pm and they sort of half-assed threw the Plt back together. They formed a gauntlet which scared the crap out of me, (but nobody actually hit me). The plt sgt read the warrant from memory (and very badly, might I add) and then he gave me a longneck (i actually was 21). I was then blindsided with a flying tackle (from one of my peers, no less!) and we had a fun plt brawl all over the basketball court. point is it was fun, we felt like killers and nobody got hurt (too bad)!

this is taking forever but one more! my friend got rolled behind the COC in-country by the most legendary SNCO our Bn had. To this day he is proud of getting his ass beat by that man! :thumbup:

Chumley

01-16-09, 03:03 PM

My Bro Kevin and I both pinned on Lance on the same day. We went out that afternoon for a drive in his car - a standard. Neither of us could really use our right arms, so he drove/steered with his left, and when he said "shift" and pushed the clutch, and I used my left to change gears...what a team.

Congratulations PFC!!
SFi
C

DocGreek

01-16-09, 03:36 PM

Congradulations, MARINE!! May you only need a Corpsman, to help you cure some "social disease!!"......SEMPER FI.....Doc Greek

Zulu 36

01-16-09, 03:37 PM

I should have written that getting promoted meritoriously in a combat zone was kind of special only when nobody had died to create the vacancy. In my case, no Marine was hurt or killed in the production of making this guy a Corporal - except for me.

I was murdered when pinning on time came. Even the S-4 (a Captain) got in on the act as he was a former Sergeant. I could hardly walk or move my arms. I found out an aviation unit has a hell of a lot of NCOs in it. :sick:

I never thought to whine or complain about it. Pinning on was a tradition and you just rolled with it.

Hazing - bull****. :devious:

Qwarkeh

01-16-09, 04:17 PM

Good work on the promotion! You now are a true professional in cleaning. Keep it up and stay out of trouble, the weight on your collar can magically disappear even faster than they came if you **** it up.

And that stuff is considered hazing now because there's always that one idiot that took it too far. But at least having chevron's pounded isn't nearly as gay as some other hazing stories I've heard...

PaidinBlood

01-16-09, 04:22 PM

Good work on the promotion! You now are a true professional in cleaning. Keep it up and stay out of trouble, the weight on your collar can magically disappear even faster than they came if you **** it up.

And that stuff is considered hazing now because there's always that one idiot that took it too far. But at least having chevron's pounded isn't nearly as gay as some other hazing stories I've heard...

It's not gay at ALL, brother. :evilgrin:

Qwarkeh

01-16-09, 04:36 PM

Let me correct myself: it's the exact opposite of gay. What I meant is that some of the hazing stories, like the one where the Silent Drill Team used to paint the new member's balls with edge dressing, are filled with gayness.

And I'm not quite a brother since I'm female.

PaidinBlood

01-16-09, 04:38 PM

Every Marine ain't a riflewoman or a rifleperson. If the shoe fits...

Seriously, I just didn't check. No offense intended...

mcvet57103

01-16-09, 05:14 PM

Good work on the promotion! You now are a true professional in cleaning. Keep it up and stay out of trouble, the weight on your collar can magically disappear even faster than they came if you **** it up.

And that stuff is considered hazing now because there's always that one idiot that took it too far. But at least having chevron's pounded isn't nearly as gay as some other hazing stories I've heard...Hey Christine, You need to update your personal info. Got a PFC chev and a E-1 in your profile. SF

nvusmcsgt

01-17-09, 09:42 AM

Congrats on the promotion. I was promoted meritourios to LCPL out of boot camp so that was pretty cool. Sgt was another on that I liked. To me Sgt is on of the best ranks in the Corps. You get to lead Marines but you do not have to mess with so much of the paperwork side of things. Ooh Rah

SGT7477

01-17-09, 11:03 AM

Only story I have is when I was in they used to "Pen" your stripes on you. All the men in your company at your new rank got to punch you in each shoulder once as hard as they wanted to. Getting Cpl was the worst. Then they also got to knee you in the thigh "penning" on your blood stripe. After a day of getting punched, with the last few bringing tears to my eyes, I couldn't raise my arms to eat chow. And hurt for 3 days. But I was told they don't allow that anymore.

That is anyone above you in rank got to do the penning.:evilgrin:

SGT7477

01-17-09, 11:09 AM

Many PVTs at Ft. Lee, VA (myself included) were promoted to PFC about a week ago. Haha I still gotta get the cash together to go get my chevrons sewn on my uniforms!
Anyway, I wanted to know how I could change my avatar on here to reflect my rank.

Also, on the subject on promotion, anyone want to share promotion stories? For those who are NCOs, how did you feel when you picked up Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, etc? Were you excited or just nervous at the new responsibilities?

Congrats Marine, getting the bloodstripe was the worst, still hurts thinking about it.:evilgrin:

Zebra29er

01-17-09, 01:00 PM

Congrats Marine, getting the bloodstripe was the worst, still hurts thinking about it.:evilgrin:
You think the "Blood-Strips" Hurt you should get your Jump Wings pined on LOL

SGT7477

01-17-09, 04:07 PM

You think the "Blood-Strips" Hurt you should get your Jump Wings pined on LOL

Couldn't see jumping out of a perfectly good airplane,lol.:flag:

CJ Haynes

01-17-09, 04:10 PM

Haha thanks for all the stories.
And speaking of jump wings, isn't the jump school at Ft Lee too (I know Riggers are there, and they have their wings)?

mcvet57103

01-17-09, 05:03 PM

Haha thanks for all the stories.
And speaking of jump wings, isn't the jump school at Ft Lee too (I know Riggers are there, and they have their wings)?Only appropriate. If someone is going to pack or rig my chute, I want it to be someone who has had to rely on a parachute.

Quinbo

01-17-09, 05:38 PM

When I was promoted to Cpl the CO asked me why I was acting so dang nervous. I said Cpl Scott sir. He glanced at the formation then back at me and smiled. Cpl Scott was my squad leader and a great big black man about 6'4 and 225. He got a wicked gleam in his eye as soon as I was called out for promotion. Cpl Scott made sure that I never lost my stripe or my blood stripe. After quite the pinning ceremony my room mate locked me in his wall locker and told all late comers he had no idea where I went. Cpl Scott came in and threatened to choke him out if he didn't tell where I was ... he let the cat out of the bag and Cpl Scott dragged me out of the wall locker gave me another knee to the thigh then marched me to the PX and paid half on a new set of dress blues. He was quite possibly the meanest sumbich I ever met but one of the best troop leaders I have ever worked for. If you ever read this CPL Scott I still have the blood stripe and still owe you a beer.

mcvet57103

01-17-09, 06:22 PM

When I was promoted to Cpl the CO asked me why I was acting so dang nervous. I said Cpl Scott sir. He glanced at the formation then back at me and smiled. Cpl Scott was my squad leader and a great big black man about 6'4 and 225. He got a wicked gleam in his eye as soon as I was called out for promotion. Cpl Scott made sure that I never lost my stripe or my blood stripe. After quite the pinning ceremony my room mate locked me in his wall locker and told all late comers he had no idea where I went. Cpl Scott came in and threatened to choke him out if he didn't tell where I was ... he let the cat out of the bag and Cpl Scott dragged me out of the wall locker gave me another knee to the thigh then marched me to the PX and paid half on a new set of dress blues. He was quite possibly the meanest sumbich I ever met but one of the best troop leaders I have ever worked for. If you ever read this CPL Scott I still have the blood stripe and still owe you a beer.Great story Bulkyker. :thumbup: LOL

mgkusmc

01-18-09, 01:52 AM

When I got my double bars and rifles (corporal for you barney mofos out there) I couldnt have been prouder, I had them pinned on by a friend who had served for 42 years in the Marines and been everywhere from Chesty Pullers Dinner Table to Khe Sahn lol. He pinned my chevrons on me and punched me square on either one and then kneed me hard in the leg....very proud day for me.

Blackhailfire

01-18-09, 01:58 PM

Yeah, I have to admit that the Jump Wings were the worst. And Jump is at Ft. Benning the Rigger School is at Ft. Lee. They still sing the Marine Corps Hymn Every night at 2130? Kick it Airborne.